Flour is a finely ground powder made by grinding beans, grains, nuts, roots and seeds. Etymology: The English word flour is originally a variant of the word flower, and both the words derive from the Old French- fleur or flour, which had the literal meaning ‘blossom’ and a figurative meaning ‘the finest’. The phrase fleur de farine meant “the finest part of the meal”, since flour is obtained from elimination of unwanted and coarse matter from the grain during milling. History: Earliest archaeological evidence for whea t seeds crushed between simple millstones to make flour dates back to 6000BC. In 1879, at the beginning of the Industrial Era, the first steam mill was erected in London. In the 1930’s, mills started to enrich flour with iron, niacin, thiamine and riboflavin. In 1940’s, folic acid was added to the list. The many species of wheat together make up the genus Triticum ; the most widely grown is common wheat (T. aestivum). Degermed and heat-proces sed flour: An importa